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April 26, 2011

The Cost of the Royal Wedding... What if?

Every time I've turned on the television or opened a news website for the last two months, news of the royal wedding is at the forefront. Yes- I'm eager to see a picture of the princess in her wedding gown- but the numbers I'm seeing associated with the cost of this wedding break my heart every time I hear them mentioned. Some media outlets are estimating that the total cost of the royal wedding will fall somewhere between 40 and 50 million dollars. Add on top of that the burden to British taxpayers for security and lost productivity for declaring the wedding day a national holiday and the numbers get into the BILLIONS of dollars.

I can't help but wonder... WHAT IF...

What if...instead of a $434,000 dress...

Every one of the 88 abandoned and severely special needs children at Sarah's Covenant Home in India got the life saving surgeries and therapies that they needed.

...the financial burden was removed to bring 4 children home to eager and loving families...

What would that look like?

WHAT IF... the $65,000 that will be used just to clean the streets for the royal wedding procession...

...was used instead to clean up these streets in the slums of Nairobi, Kenya.

What would that look like?

WHAT IF... instead of a $600,000 luncheon hosted by Prince Charles...

...The remaining 144 un-sponsored children at Yezelalem Minch (Ethiopia) were sponsored for the next 12 years- or until most of them are adults- providing them with an education, nutrition and a safe place to grow up.

What would that look like?

The point is- there are choices that we all make, myself included. The choices aren't always easy. The world tells us that we need bigger and better things and that we should find our self worth based on the amount of "stuff" that we can amass. The amount that we deal with on a daily basis may not equal the millions spent on the royal wedding, but the decision is the same: continue our lives of comfort, or make sacrifices to support the least of these.

I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day. -E. B. White

May the plan for your day (and my day) include improving the world- even if it is only in a small way. I guarantee that there is more enjoyment in that than anything else in the world!

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